comfort...finally

I have almost finished my first week in Huntsville, and it's been a great week. The girl I'm living with is a bit messy, and it kind of a pack rat, but she's really sweet. However, she has hired a maid! So, maybe that will help with some of the clutter. I had to clean out the fridge myself, it was so disgusting. You know it's bad when I'm grossed out.

I led worship yesterday for the first time, officially, and I've gotta say....that's the most comfortable I've ever been leading worship. I feel like I can completely focus on the worship aspect without worrying about what people think, what the pastor thinks, etc. It's so wonderful.

I got to meet a few people tonight! I already hung out with Kyle Gilbert when he helped me unload my car, then we got coffee and drove around town, and also when we went to see Harry Potter. Tonight I met him and a few of his new friends from the presbyterian church's singles ministry at the concert in the park. After the concert, we went to a nearby restaurant and I got to know some of them. It was so much fun!

Thus ends the "Waiting to be used" blog. Thank you, Lord, that it was short-lived. Thank you for what you taught me during this time in my life.

For the first time in a year, I can breathe without any worry whatsoever! Thank you, Lord.

yes!

I got the job at Master's Way UMC in madison!!! God is faithful and does provide!

waiting, waiting, waiting

the story of my life!

it's been a while...

Well, it's been a long time since my last post, but no one reads this anyway! I'm still planning on going to grad school, but that's only if I don't get this job that I'm hoping I get. It's in Madison, near Huntsville, at The Master's Way United Methodist. It's part-time, and the pay is pretty good, but I'd still have to have another job, which is expected. It's an awesome, awesome church with amazing, wonderful people. I'd have to build a program from the ground up, but it would be a fun, challenging adventure. Lots of adjectives in this paragraph!

Anyway, if you are reading this, pray that I get this job! It would be perfect for me right now! I should find out something before the 30th.

Update

So, I think I've decided to go to grad school. I've been thinking about it for a few weeks. I'm going to apply to UA to get a master's in elementary education.

Friendship

The greatest thing I miss, since moving back to Tuscaloosa, is having friends. Close friends. Friends I can count on when I'm going through an emotional or spiritual struggle. Friends I can talk to about my bad, or good, day. Friends I can laugh with.

Wanna hear something really depressing? I haven't really laughed while in Tuscaloosa. I used to laugh myself to tears every single day in RamCorps rehearsals while in Mobile. I laugh like that whenever I visit Mobile and Birmingham, but not in Tuscaloosa.

I miss talking to people. Me! The recluse. I miss talking. Crazy.

I've been trying to get involved in a church here called "New Beginnings," but nothing seems to stick. I love this church for their freedom in worship and honest, exciting truth in preaching. I get so tired of dead corporate worship with sugary preaching (I just wanna yell outloud "wake up people! this is our GOD we're singing about!!!), and the atmosphere at New Beginnings is just contagious. These people worship with their minds AND their emotions, and I just want to be around them all the time! Only, I keep going there and I still feel like a complete outsider. I'm going to the young women's retreat next weekend, so hopefully once I meet some girls there things will change.

I just...I don't know. I miss friendship.

Drunk guy says what?!?

Let's talk about Genesis 9.

Verses 18-27, to be precise. I'll summarize...the LKV (Leah Kathryn Version), if you will.

Post-flood Noah decides to grow a vineyard. He makes wine. He gets drunk off said wine. Totally plastered. He passes out naked inside his tent. I'm getting a Peter Griffin image right about now (Drunk Peter: "Hey, where's that Peter Griffin guy? He said he'd give me 50 bucks to take off all my clothes off!"). I mean, this is NOAH! The only righteous man on the face of the earth! His son, Ham, happens across the sight of his father passed out naked, then goes outside and tells his brothers about this. The brothers, Shem and Japheth, decide to walk into the tent backwards so that they don't see Noah naked and they lay a garment over him.

If it wasn't crazy yet, this is where I get totally confused.

Noah wakes up, sees this garment over him, and somehow figures out that Ham saw him naked. He says:

"Cursed be Canaan (Ham's son)! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."
He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japeth; May Japeth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."

I have a few questions:
What does this even mean?
Just because Ham accidently saw his father naked, he and his line are cursed?
Why are Canaan and his children cursed when it was the father that made a mistake?
And why are Shem and Japeth blessed?
Why is this in the Bible?
Are these just the ravings and overreactions of an ashamed, hungover dude?
Is Noah just blowing off steam, or is this an actual prayer?
And if it's a prayer, does God approve of this prayer?
Would God actually answer this prayer? DID HE answer this prayer?

I don't know the answer to any of these. I just ran across this passage this morning and was perplexed.